The unique flavour of coffee comprises more than 800 aromas produced by roasting – ones which need to be preserved during transport, packaging and storage. This so-called "black gold" is among the international delicatessen consumed almost everywhere in the world. The current trend is towards organic and Fairtrade coffees – to be enjoyed with a clear conscience while ensuring fair trade in the world.

Packaging for coffee also needs to be easy to use, have short lead times for sourcing while ensuring storage as long as possible – and, last but not least – it needs to offer optimal protection for the product. The worst "enemy" of coffee aroma is oxygen. After all, coffee should reach consumers in top condition. A variety of materials with different barrier properties can be used to ensure this aromatic product reaches end users in perfect condition including paper, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester and aluminium foil – the task now is to combine them. Other key factors here include light transmission levels and good printability while high density and permeability for escaping roast gasses also have to be ensured. Be it whole beans, ground coffee in bags, coffee pads or capsules packaged in cartons: apparently there are no limits to the variety of coffee nor its packaging options today.

Loved throughout the World

Coffee is popular the world over. In Italy per-capita consumption stands at roughly 5.7 kg and the espresso universe has been the fastest expanding one there for years. The land of the "Dolce Vita" continues to boast the most popular coffee specialities. The frontrunners in coffee consumption, however, are the Scandinavians: Finns rank first in Europe (11.9 kg per capita/year) – consuming preferably strong coffee and at any time of the day. In Portugal coffee plays a key role, too: at the port of Lisbon seagoing vessels still unload many bags of coffee shipped from the country’s former colonies Angola and Mozambique every day. Switzerland is also a nation of coffee aficionados – boasting even their own roast: "Schümli".

The epicentre of modern coffee culture, however, is the USA. American coffee culture has undergone major change through the mushrooming of stylish coffee shops and their countless coffee varieties. Nearly all flavours are available in three different sizes and packaged as a take-away food.

The "Coffee-to-Go" Decade

While until about ten years ago only "drip-brew" filter coffee was available at home and also on the go, today you can chose from a wide variety of coffee drinks nearly all over the world – drinks that were largely unknown just a few years ago. Coffee shops have also been booming outside of the USA for some time now being part and parcel of the cityscape of international metropolises. The industry refers to this as the "coffee-to-go decade". This trend in turn called for a new type of packaging: coffee cups suitable for consumption "on the go" – hot inside, cool outside, tight lid with a handy opening for sipping – are in demand. Lifestyle and convenience were the buzzwords of the "noughties", capsule and pad systems also revolutionised coffee delights at home.

Incidentally, the same increasingly applies to tea. Since tea lovers attach importance to quality and high-quality loose and broken tea leaves, proper preparation requires time which is often unavailable. Nonetheless, breakfast, lunch and tea breaks are taken ever more often "on the road". For hurried patrons of cafés, coffee shops or hotels there are now even easy-to-handle tea cups. The tea bags are integrated in the "to-go" lids and a "comfort pack" protects the aroma through a hygienic single-unit packaging. Just pour hot water into the cup, remove the foil and attach the lid. After the proper infusion time the tea bag disappears in the lid and infusion is interrupted so that re-opening to remove the bags is rendered superfluous.

Fair benefits All

Certified and organically grown coffees raised a smirk a few years ago. But these days are now gone for good. Organic coffee is forecast to undergo substantial growth – like other organic products it is the latest trend. While the consumption of conventional coffee types rises by 1% to 2% annually, the sales of organic coffee are growing by ten to twenty percent worldwide, according to World Bank forecasts. Organic and social responsibility certificates are gaining increasing importance while Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance safeguard sustainable coffee cultivation which is also becoming more and more important for consumers. Be it Darboven, Douwe Egberts or Lavazza – many international roasting companies now offer coffee types bearing one of these labels. One of the world’s biggest coffee roasters, Douwe Egberts distributes the "goodorigin" brand, a 100% organically and sustainably produced coffee for the "on-the-go" market. This coffee bears the organic Bio seal, is certified by both Naturland and the UTZ CERTIFIED Foundation and aims to contribute to establishing a healthy and stable coffee market. The company is committed to ensuring an appropriate standard of living and a safe future for coffee growers and their families.

It goes without saying that sustainably produced organic coffees are consistently offered with sustainable packaging more and more often. It still seems difficult, however, to reconcile the numerous prerequisites for ensuring 100 % coffee quality with the currently available possibilities of so-called organic packaging. Organic films are more expensive and not as flexible yet for combination as conventional PE and PP films. Here researchers still come up against limits. Presumably the market will require uncompromising solutions here sooner or later, too.